Pages of the Guerrilla: A Discourse Analysis of the Brazilian Armed Left-Wing

Abstract

This paper presents some reflections on discourse historicity aiming to contribute to the field of semiotic
studies by examining the discoursive structure of texts of the two most important Brazilian armed left-wing
organizations, namely the Ação Libertadora Nacional [National Liberty Action] (ALN) and the Vanguarda Popular
Revolucionária [Popular Revolutionary Avant-Garde] (VPR), in the light of the rhetorical concepts of éthos and
páthos. In the context of the dictatorial period in Brazil, and influenced by the ideals of the Vietnam War and the
Cuban Revolution, amongst other events, left-wing militants decided in favour of the revolution, by forming armed
groups to fight against the government. These groups, in activity in Brazil in the period between 1968 and 1973,
were eventually massacred by the military regime, the majority of the combatants being murdered and those who
survived suffering torture, living clandestinely, or sent to prison or into exile. Aiming at an understanding of the
option for the armed fight as well as of the values and mobilizing impulse of these individuals, we comparatively
analyzed ethical and passion elements in documents in the ALN’s and the VPR’s respective archives, according to
the theoretical-methodological principles of French discourse semiotics. The approach of the notion of enunciation
actor and particularly of the concepts of éthos and páthos, from a semiotic perspective, revealed similarities and
differences in the discourses of the ALN and the VPR, based essentially on passion aspects.